Product Description

On Skeet’s twelfth birthday his older brother Randy buys him his first surfboard. Suddenly his summer turns to the endless search for the perfect wave, wild times and beach parties and eventually, finding his own daring adventures when Randy’s attention turns to a girl. Beyond his wildest dreams, Skeet is taken under the wings of surfing legend Jim Wesley who gives Skeet first-hand lessons in hot-dogging. Meanwhile, Randy, still dealing with the loss of his father and trying to fill his shoes, is jealous of Jim’s influence on Skeet and isn’t thrilled when Jim begins a relationship with their single mom. Tangled by the conflict between his brother and his newfound father figure, Skeet retreats to his room while longing to surf.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33989 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-15
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

From the Back Cover
On Skeet's twelfth birthday his older brother Randy buys him his first surfboard. Suddenly, summer turns into and endless search for the perfect wave, wild times and beach parties with surfing buddies. Skeet must soon learn to find his own adventures when Randy's attention turns to sexy new girl Samantha. Beyond his wildest dreams, Skeet is taken under the wing of surfing legend Jim Wesley, who gives Skeet first-hand lessons in hot-dogging. Meanwhile. Randy is still dealing with the loss of their father, but finds it difficult to fill his shoes in the shadow of Jim's growing influence on Skeet. When Jim begins a relationship with their single mom, Randy is not thrilled and his feelings erupt with jealousy and resentment. Torn by the conflict between his brother and his newfound father figure, Skeet retreats to his room while longing only to surf. Filmed on location along the beaches of Southern California, Local Boys is loaded with radical surfing footage, breathtaking moves and thrilling feats. Packed with endless adventure, awesome point breaks and California surfer girls, this coming of age story captures all the hardships and thrilling freedom that go along with growing up.

Customer Reviews

What DVD does best
"Local Boys" is a perfect example of what DVD does best: providing a showcase for a minor-league delight that had no chance at a big-screen release but deserves more than to be dumped on cable TV for just a few lucky insomniacs to catch on the late show. In short, it is a small gem of a film with a fine cast and promising director that tells a familiar, though moving and involving story. It also showcases a pair of promising young actors who appear on the brink of stardom and gives a couple of solid pros (and former "Chicago Hope" costars) a chance to stretch their acting chops and exhibit their own undeniable chemistry. And it may be the first surfing movie I have ever seen that actually deals with the teen surfing crowd in a realistic and non-exploitative manner by making its kids more than just brain-dead stoners obsessed with riding waves that would kill the world's best surfers.

Eric Christian Olsen and Jeremy Sumpter star as Randy and Skeet, brothers whose policeman father "died a hero" (as Randy likes to say) in the line of duty. Skeet wants to learn to surf, so Randy buys him a surfboard for his twelfth birthday. But like so many other well-meaning though self-centered older brothers, he buys one that is too big (that way he'll have a spare) and then leaves Skeet to learn on his own. When legendary surfer Jim Wesley (Mark Harmon) sees Skeet's pitiful attempts at riding a wave, he befriends the boy, buys him a suitable board, and offers to teach him the proper way to surf. Skeet and Jim become fast friends and Jim even begins a tentative relationship with the boys' mother (Stacey Edwards), much to Randy's displeasure. (Randy loathes Jim, sees him as a threat to his status as "man of the house" and refuses to cut him any slack.) But Jim has issues of his own to deal with, since his own wife and daughter were killed in a car crash a couple of years before. And then there's Skeet's unresolved emotional problems surrounding the death of his father to deal with as well--

"Local Boys" isn't exactly loaded with surprises since you can tell where everything is headed almost before the film starts. But it is done with taste and restraint and a refreshing lack of melodrama, except for a ridiculous suicide attempt late in the film by one of Randy's surfer buds (Guiseppe Andrews), whose father thinks is a lazy, pothead loser (which, incidentally, he is) and is forcing to join the Marines.

As for the brothers' relationship, it is tender and sweetly rendered, yet combative and utterly believable, thanks to the terrific performances of Olsen and Sumpter. Olsen, who bombed badly in the "Dumb and Dumber" sequel "When Harry Met Lloyd," makes Randy likeable even when he's acting like a spoiled jerk, mainly because he never lets the audience lose sight of how much he loves his brother and mother. He's convinced he's trying to protect them from being hurt by Jim, but in reality, he's protecting himself. As for Sumpter, he is simply amazing as Skeet, creating a character who is not a mini-adult but a believable, emotionally fragile pre-teen who idolizes his older brother, yet occasionally finds him a major league pain in the you-know-where. Couple this with his fine performance in Bill Paxton's "Frailty," and the result is a young actor of exceptional promise.

In addition, Harmon and Edwards, who co-starred as lovers on TV's "Chicago Hope," also score solidly and once again make a believable couple. Harmon, in fact, has developed into a reliable and solid character actor who manages to elevate every scene he's in, no matter how pedestrian. And he's 100% believable as a surfing legend. Unfortunately, Edwards, who was magnificent as the deaf "victim" in Neal LaBute's "In the Company of Men," is given little to do as the mother, but what she is given she does extremely well. And Andrews offers amusing support as the pothead friend.

Give credit to director Ron Moler, who does a creditable job on both the character-driven scenes and the surfing sequences, which are refreshingly believable in that they concentrate on surfers riding real waves instead of the ridiculous tidal waves of "Big Wednesday" and other recent surfing films. How refreshing that the director doesn't feel the need to thrill the audience with laughable computer-generated surfing sequences in which normal surfers become superhuman thrill-seekers. Moler also successfully captures the "look" of the Southern California beach scene and it's surrounding neighborhoods. As for the DVD itself, the presentation is crisp, the sound excellent and is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1:85:1.

In all, this one's a winner. Surfers can watch it without groaning, and non-surfers will find the story touching and the performances refreshingly good for a direct-to-video release.
Congratulations to one and all.

Not a masterpiece, but enjoyed it anyway
The story is predictable, the writing sophomoric. Yet I still managed to enjoy it, and I appreciated the performances given by Mark Harmon and especially Jeremy Sumpter as "Skeet". Jeremy is an amazing young actor (check him out in "Frailty" if you haven't already) who brings a natural charm to his character -- he never seems forced or phony. Might even bring a tear to your eye in a couple scenes . ;) Mark Harmon is quite the pro at this kind of thing and a pleasure to watch. Same for most of the rest of the cast. As I said, this is not a masterpiece, but it's an OK little surf-oriented movie with nice cinematography and music, and a decent enough story to hold my interest.

local boys
from start to finish this movie was excellent. Jeremy Sumpter was best actor thru the entire movie, all others had a good supporting role and the story line was great thru-out the movie. Very good surfing movie. Mark Harmon was a great dad in the end of the movie. A very good ending. Great family move to watch over and over. Make you dream of your child hood dreams. this movie is totaly awesome, A MUST SEE!!!!!